US says active, aggressive diplomacy needed with Iran

NEW YORK - The United States believes that it needs to pursue active and aggressive diplomacy with Iran to determine whether a diplomatic solution on Tehran's nuclear program is achievable, a senior US administration official said on Saturday.

"In order to really seriously test whether we can reach a diplomatic solution with Iran on its nuclear program, we believe we need to engage in very active and very aggressive diplomacy," said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official, who was speaking ahead of bilateral talks between senior US and Iranian officials in Geneva set for June 9-10, said Washington had not yet seen "the kind of realism on the Iranian side that we need to see."